Name one component to a role playing game that you absolutely need in
order to play. OK, chips and pop are important, but that's not what I
had in mind. Paper, dice, books, pencils, miniatures; yes yes, but
there's something else more crucial. What's that? Um, I'm not even sure
how that is even legal in most states.

No, what I'm thinking of is even more critical to role playing games,
and it's probably the most overlooked component to any role playing
experience. I'm of course talking about The GM: the one who puts
together the scenario, crafts non-playing characters, and ensures that
everyone at the table is satisfied with their playing experience.

Good GMs can make any game experience more satisfying, and conversely a
poor or unprepared GM can sink a game.

Making the transition from novice GM to experienced GM takes practice
and experience, and many guides have decent advice, but Gamemastering
Secrets, 2nd
edition
goes beyond simple advice, bringing together practical and hard-won
advice in this classic tome. Regardless of your game system, aspiring
and expert GMs will find useful information, tips, tricks, and hints for
putting together a great game for their players.

Gamemastering Secrets starts off with some very basic and quick tips to
remember whenever GMing a game. The book then explores some of the more
common genres of role playing games to aid the GM in choosing the sort
of adventure they might be interested in running. Choosing a system is
as important as setting, and is covered briefly in the next section.

The book also discusses when it's OK to change rules, or make rulings on
situations where the rules don't apply. Too often GMs can feel hamstrung
by rules that don't apply, or don't give the flavor they're looking to
achieve, and the book provides practical advice on when to bend, change,
or ignore rules in a game. Finding the proper setting is also important,
as is the decision to roll-your-own adventure or pick up a store-bought
adventure, and the book provides reasons and tips for each.

After the adventure is selected, the more difficult job of running and
maintaining the game environment falls on the GM's shoulders. Game
Mastering Secrets covers how to assemble the party, setting the proper
tone for the adventure, keeping the players interacting with the game,
and hints for running the game itself. The advice ranges from knowing
when to pull back the detail of combat vs. getting to the nitty-gritty
details of every last slash and kick. It also covers the often
controversial fudging that GMs sometimes afford their characters, and
discusses when it might be appropriate (both on the GMs side, and on the
player's side).

Also covered are the more difficult aspects of GM duties: when to award
experience, adding new characters, and more importantly; when it's OK to
kill player characters, and how to deal with players that are disruptive
to the overall experience. Rather than making confrontational, though,
the book describes how to be constructive in handing situations when the
player expectations aren't meshing with what the GM is looking to
provide. Overall, the first part of the Gamemastering Secrets book is
chock full of advice no GM should be without.

The second part of the Gamemastering Secrets book is really where the
book shines. Taking a page from the later-released Fudge 10th
anniversary book, Gamemastering Secrets taps the shoulders of 17 guest
authors of notable pedigree to provide short blog-like articles on a
topic. One of my favorite authors, Ken Hite, provides his advice on how
research can both be informative for a campaign, but can also be darned
fun too. Ann Dupuis provides almost a chapter's worth of advice on
creating maps for a campaign. The articles vary in length and topic, but
all of them provide excellent advice, tips, and tricks that GMs will
find invaluable.

The formatting of Game Mastering Secrets will come as little surprise to
anyone familiar with Fudge books, with one notable exception. Dork Tower
strips pepper the pages, providing a humorous look at the topics
presented on the page. It was hard not to keep leafing through the book
in order to see the next comic.

Gamemastering Secrets, 2nd edition was initially published in 2002. How
well does it hold up 10 years later? Surprisingly well. Some of the
software mentioned is no longer available, and the discussions of how to
use the Internet are somewhat naive, given the explosive growth of
ubiquitous on-line communication services and the rise of Wikipedia. The
d20 system (3E) gets some mention in these pages, as does Fudge, but
thankfully there is little in this book that directly relates to either
system. The book also contains advertisements for the forthcoming Dork
Tower books from 2002, as well as the Action System role playing game,
and the (also excellent) Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering. But outside
of these little trips down memory lane, the book remains as relevant as
ever, with timeless advice for GMs that still rings true 10 years later.

Gamemastering Secrets, 2nd edition is a welcome addition to any GM's
bookshelf. Most of this material could likely be gleaned from other
sources, and from hard-won experience, but the book presents a complete
picture of what it means to be a GM, and how to excel in that position.
If you've been blessed with the GMing responsibilities at your table,
you owe it to yourself to pick up this book and read it cover to cover.